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However AAOIFI has recently redrafted these statements in July 2010 to take account of
substance, to give it recognition in addition to recognising the importance of the legal form
of the contract. However, there is an overriding requirement to make sure that if substance
and form are in conflict Shariah shall prevail.
Given the importance of demonstrating to the users of the accounts that the transactions
comply with Shariah, in the writer’s opinion under AAOIFI the financial statements would
be prepared as below. The key differences between the following AAOIFI accounts and the
IFRS accounts are as follows:
Footnote
When the building was sold on 31/12/2015, the entire sale proceeds of £110 were distributed
to the sukuk holders as the investment fund was dissolved at that time.
In the writer’s view, as well as preparing its own accounts as SPV, accounts should be
prepared for the investment fund represented by the sukuk in accordance with Financial
Accounting Standard 14 "Investment Funds" and that these are also shown above.
For comparability, Trader plc is shown as distributing only the same amount of profit each
year as a dividend to its shareholders as it distributes under IFRS accounting. (The amount to
distribute is a management decision and Trader plc is not required to distribute all of its post
tax profit.) Accordingly, Trader plc's cash balances are the same as under the IFRS scenario.
The key difference is that over the five-year period Trader plc records £10 less in total
expenses and at the end of the period it reports the purchase of the building for £110 whereas
under IFRS the building remains on Trader plc's balance sheet throughout at £100.
Which is right?
This is not a meaningful question. IFRS and AAOIFI accounting have different objectives
and perspectives.
IFRS analyses the sukuk transaction entirely on the basis of its economic substance and sees
it as a financing transaction. Fundamentally, this derives from the requirement to repurchase
the building at a fixed price irrespective of the market value.
As an alternative, if the sukuk transaction required Trader plc to repurchase the building at
the open market value on the date of repurchase (which totally changes the economics of the
transaction) then Trader plc would record only £5 of rental expense each year, and it would
de-recognise the building when sold to the SPV since from that point Trader plc would have
no economic exposure to value changes in the building.
The main purpose of AAOIFI accounting is to satisfy the religious needs of the users of the
accounts. Accordingly AAOIFI does not allow substance to determine the presentation of the
accounts but instead gives significant weight to the legal form of contracts and Shariah
requirements are overriding.
In 2010 the picture is very different. Outside a few countries in the Gulf and the USA,
virtually the entire world accounts under IFRS. The last significant holdout is USA but there
is a convergence project between the US Financial Accounting Standards Board and the IASB
to converge IFRS and US GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). Accordingly,
Islamic financial institutions in all parts of the world apart from some Gulf countries will be
accounting under IFRS very shortly if they do not already do so.